Resilience (psychological)
Resilience in psychology is the positive capacity of people to cope with disappointments, stress and catastrophe. It is also used to indicate a characteristic of resistance to future negative events. In this sense "resilience" corresponds to cumulative "protective factors" and is used in opposition to cumulative "risk factors". The phrase "risk and resilience"' in this area of study is quite common. Commonly used terms, which are essentially synonymous within psychology are "resilience", "psychological resilience", "emotional resilience", "hardiness", and "resourcefulness". Definition of Resilience Resilience is defined as a dynamic process that individuals exhibit positive behavioral adaptation when they encounter significant adversity or trauma (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000) * . . Resilience is a two-dimensional construct concerning the exposure of adversity and the positive adjustment outcomes of that adversity (Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000) * . Adversity refers to any risks associated with negative life conditions that are statistically related to adjustment difficulties, such as poverty, children of schizophrenic mothers, or experiences of the 9/11 attacks. Positive adaptation, on the other hand, is considered in a demonstration of manifested behavior on social competence or success at meeting any particular tasks at a specific life stage, such as the absence of psychiatric distress after the September 11th terrorism attacks on the United States (Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000). History of Research on Resilience Resilience emerged as a major theoretical and research topic from the studies of children of schizophrenic mothers in the 1980s (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Masten, Best, & Garmezy, 1990) * . In Masten’s (1989) study Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum., the results showed that children with a schizophrenic parent may not obtain comforting caregiving compared to children with healthy parents, and such situation had an impact on children’s development. However, some children of ill parents thrived well and were competent in academic achievement, and therefore led researchers make efforts to understand such responses to adversity. In the onset of the research on resilience, researchers have been devoted to discovering the protective factors that explain people’s adaptation to adverse conditions, such as maltreatment (Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1997) * , catastrophic life events (Fredrickson, Tugade, Waugh, & Larkin, 2003) * , or urban poverty (Luthar 1999) Newbury Park, CA: Sage. The focus of empirical work then has been shifted to understand the underlying protective processes. Researchers endeavor to uncover how some factors (e.g., family) may contribute to positive outcomes (Luthar, 1999). Emmy Werner was one of the first scientists to use the term resilience. She studied a cohort of children from Kauai (Hawaiian Islands). Kauai was quite poor and many of the children in the study grew up with alcoholic or mentally ill parents. Many of the parents were also out of work * . Werner noted that of the children who grew up in these very bad situations, two-thirds exhibited destructive behaviors in their later teen years, such as chronic unemployment, substance abuse, and out-of-wedlock births (in case of teenage-girls). However one-third of these youngsters did not exhibit destructive behaviors. Werner called the latter group resilient * . Resilient children and their families had traits that made them different from non-resilient children and families. Expressions of Resilience Resilience can be described by viewing: (1) good outcomes regardless of high-risk status, (2) constant competence under stress, and (3) recovery from trauma (Masten, et al., 1990)* . Resilient people are expected to adapt successfully even though they experience risk factors that are against good development. Risk factors are related to poor or negative outcomes. For example, poverty, low socioeconomic status, and mothers with schizophrenia are coupled with lower academic achievement and more emotional or behavioral problems. Risk factors may be cumulative, carrying additive and exponential risks when they co-occur (Masten et al., 1990). When these risk factors happen, according to a study conducted on children (Warner & Smith, 1982) New York: McGraw-Hill. , resilient children are capable of resulting in no behavioral problems and developing well. Additionally, they are more active and socially responsive. These positive outcomes are attributed to some protective factors, such as good parenting or positive school experiences. Resilience is also treated as an effective coping mechanism when people are under stress, such as divorce. In this context, resilience is relevant with sustained competence exhibited by individuals who experience challenging conditions. Most research built on this perspective focuses on the children’s response to parents’ divorce in terms of gender. Boys show more conduct problems than do girls; girls obtain more support from mothers and are less exposed to family conflict than boys. Although divorce may some negative impacts on children’s development, it may have children in single households to become more responsible than those in dual-parents households because of helping with chores. Some protective factors attributing to resilient children in single-family, for example, are adults caring for children during or after major stressors (e.g., divorce), or self-efficacy for motivating endeavor at adaptation. Finally, resilience can be viewed as the phenomenon of recovery from a prolonged or severe adversity, or from an immediate danger or stress (Carver & Scheier, 1999 New York: Guilford Press. ; Davidson, 2000) * . In this case, resilience is not related to vulnerability. People who experience acute trauma, for example, may show extreme anxiety, sleep problems, and intrusive thoughts. Over time, these symptoms decrease and recovery is likely to occur. This realm of research shows that age and the supportive qualities of the family influence the condition of recovery. Buffalo Creek dam disaster, for example, had longer effects on older children than on younger (Gleser et al., 1981 New York: Academic. , cited in Masten, et al., 1990). Additionally, children with supportive families show fewer symptoms (e.g., dreams of personal death) that Chowchilla incident resulted in than troubled families (Terr, 1983 * , cited in Masten, et al., 1990). Factors related to Resilience Two factors are found to modify the negative effects of adverse life events and situations. The first factor is vulnerability which includes any indices aggregating the negative effects of difficult circumstances. For example, children with low intelligence are more vulnerable than those with high intelligence when both groups experience severe adversities (Rutter, 2000) New York: Cambridge University Press. Another factor, protective, on the other hand, is related to moderating the negative effects of environmental hazards or a stressful situation in order to direct vulnerable individuals to optimistic paths, such as external social support. More specifically, Werner (1995) * distinguished three contexts protective factors existed in: (1) personal attributes, including outgoing, bright, and positive self-concepts; (2) the family, such as having close bonds with at least one family members or an emotionally stable parents; and (3) the community, like receiving support or counsel from peers. Besides the above distinction on resilience, research has also been devoted to discovering the individual differences on resilience. Self-esteem, ego-control, and ego-resiliency are related to behavioral adaptation (Cicchetti et al., 1993) * . For example, maltreated children who feel good about themselves (e.g., high self-esteem) may process risk situations in a different way by attributing different reasons to the environments they experience, and thereby avoid producing negative internalized self-perceptions. Ego-control is “the threshold or operating characteristics of an individual with regard to the expression or containment (Block & Block, 1980, p.43)" of their impulses, feelings, and desires. Ego-resilience refers to “dynamic capacity,……to modify his or her model level of ego-control, in either direction, as a function of the demand characteristics of the environmental context” (Block & Block, 1980, p. 48) Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. . Maltreated children, who experienced some risk factors (e.g., single parenting, limited maternal education, or family unemployment), showed lower ego-resilience and intelligence than nonmaltreated children (Cicchetti et al., 1993). Furthermore, maltreated children are more likely than nonmaltreated children to demonstrate disruptive-aggressive, withdraw, and internalized behavior problems (Cicchetti et al, 1993). Finally, ego-resiliency, and positive self-esteem were predictors of competent adaptation in the maltreated children (Cicchetti et al, 1993). Demographic information (e.g., gender) and resource (e.g., social support) are also used to predict resilience. In terms of examining people’s adaptation after 911 attacks (Bonanno, Galea Bucciarelli, & Vlahov, 2007) * , women were associated with less likelihood of resilience than men. Also, individuals who were less involved in affinity groups and organizations showed less resilient. Previous experience of managed stress can have a protective effect. Such stress innoculation has been shown to reduce negative reactions in similar experiences as it can provide confidence and perhaps some skills that can be employed to cope with later more severe difficulties. Resilience and social programs Head Start was shown to promote resilience E. Werner: The value of applied research for Head Start: A cross-cultural and longitudinal Perspective. In: National Head Start Association Journal of Research and Evaluation, 1997. So was the Big Brothers Big Sisters Programme, the Abecedarian Early Intervention ProjectAbecedarian Project (High-Quality Child Care/Preschool), The Carolina Abecedarian Project, and social programs for youth with emotional or behavioral difficulties Sinclair, Mary F., Sandra L. Christenson, and Martha L. Thurow. “Promoting School Completion of Urban Secondary Youth With Emotional or Behavioral Disabilities.” Exceptional Children. Vol. 71, No. 4, 2005, pp. 465-482 Resilience and Emotion Some studies confirmed the association between positive emotion and resilience (e.g., Ong, Bergeman, Bisconti, & Wallace, 2006* ; Tugade et al., 2004) * . Examining the role positive emotion plays in resilience, Ong et al. (2006) found that widows with high levels of resilience experience more positive (e.g., peaceful) and negative (e.g., anxious) emotions than those with low levels. The former group shows high emotional complexity which is the capacity to maintain the differentiation of positive and negative emotional states while underlying stress. Ong et al. (2006) further suggest that the adaptive consequence of resilience is a function of an increase in emotional complexity while stress presents. Moreover, high resilient widows showed the likelihood of controlling their positive emotional experiences to recover and bounce back from daily stress. Indeed, positive emotions were found to disrupt the experience of stress and help high resilient individuals to recover efficiently from daily stress (Fredrickson et al., 2003) * . In this case, some studies argue (e.g., Fredrickson et al., 2003; Tugade et al., 2004) that positive emotion helps resilient people to construct psychological resources that are necessary for coping successfully with significant catastrophe, such as the September 11th attacks. As a result, positive emotion experienced by resilient people functions as a protective factor to moderate the magnitude of adversity to individuals and assists them to cope well in the future (Tugade et al., 2004). In addition to the above findings, a study (Fredrickson et al., 2003) further suggests that positive emotions are active elements within resilience. By examining people’s emotional responses to the September 11th, Fredrickson et al. (2003) suggests that positive emotions are critical elements in resilience and as a mediator that buffer people from depression after the crises. Moreover, high resilient people were more likely to notice positive meanings within the problems they faced (e.g., felt grateful to be alive), endured fewer depressive symptoms, and experienced more positive emotions than low resilient people after terrorism attacks (Fredrickson et al., 2003). Similar results were obtained in another study regarding the effects of 911 attacks on resilient individuals’ healthy adjustment (Bonanno et al., 2007) * . People with high levels of resilience are likely to show low levels of depression, and less likely to smoke cigarettes or use marijuana (Bonanno et al., 2007). Moreover, low resilient people exhibit the difficulties of regulating negative emotions and demonstrate sensitive reaction to daily stressful life events (e.g., the loss of loved one) (Ong et al., 2006). They are likely to believe that there is no end for the unpleasant experience of daily stressors and may have higher levels of stress. In general, resilient people are believed to possess positive emotions, and such emotions in turn influence their responses to adversity. Resilient groups A number of social and ethnic groups have been shown to be resilient. Among those are the children of European Jews in the United States, the children of the vietnamese boat people in the United States. Middle class families in times of the great depression, children of farmers in times of economical crisis, children of Spanish and vietnamese immigrants in Germany, adoptive children, who went through trauma and malnutrishion. The children of poor Vietnamese parents in the U.S.A. and Germany Nathan Caplan studied the children of poor Vietnamese parents in the US. Most of these parents were refugees. In many cases they did not own anything but the clothes they were wearing when they arrived. Most did not speak English. Half of the parents had less than five years of formal schooling. The refugees studied by Caplan lived in the worst neighborhoods of big cities. Yet their children turned out to be academically more successful than American middle class children. Why? Nathan et al. found out the Vietnamese stress the value of education. Parents wanted their children to enjoy a better education than they did themselves. The Vietnamese children spend an average of 3 hours and 10 minutes per day doing their homework and reading for school, while American middle class students just spend an average of 1 hour and 30 minutes per day with these activities. Nathan Caplan also found out the older siblings were supposed to help their younger siblings. That way the younger ones did not only learn facts but also attitudes towards school and learning from their younger siblings. The more siblings a child of Vietnamese parentage has, the more likely is he or she to achieve in school. Nathan Caplan et al.: The Boat People and Achievement in America: A study of family life, hard work, and cultural values. University of Michigan Press (1989)ISBN-0-472-09397-5 and David W. Haines (Hrsg.): Refugees as immigrants: Cambodians, Laotians and Vietnamese in America. Rowman&Littlefield Publishers (1989) ISBN: 084767553X, Nathan Caplan et al. (1992): Indochinese Refugee Families and Academic Achievement, In: Scientific American, Ausgabe Februar 1992; S. 18-24 Germany is a multi-ethnic society. 8% of the population and 25% of the 15 year olds are born abroad themselves or have as least one parent born abroad. In Germany Vietnamese families started arriving as foreign workers during the 1980s and they are still coming in great numbers to search for a better life. As a rule children of immigrants are not as successful academically as children of native Germans. However it is not true for children of Asian parentage. The Vietnamese are the biggest Asian group in Germany and also one of the poorest ethnic groups. They have been studied a lot, and it has been found (as mentioned before) that Vietnamese parents value education and that Vietnamese students spend a lot more time learning than their German counterparts. taz.de - Archiv,Weiss, Karin & Dennis, Mike (Hrsg.) (2005): Erfolg in der Nische? Vietnamesen in der DDR und in Ostdeutschland. Münster: LIT Verlag,Weiss, K. & Kindelberger, H.: Zuwanderung und Integration in den neuen Bundesländern – zwischen Transferexistenz und Bildungserfolg - Freiburg: Lambertus. Children of American farmers Elder and Conger examined data from several Iowa counties to see how the farm crisis of the 1980s and 1990s affected children growing up in rural parts of the state. The found that a great number of children was not affected at all. Most children of farmers grew up to be academically successful and law-abiding. The reasons for this were: * strong intergenerational bounds * being socialized into productive roles in work and social leadership * good parenting * a network of positive engagement in church, school, and community lifeGlen H. Elder, Rand D. Conger (2000): Children of the Land: Adversity and Success in Rural America. University of Chicago Press ISBN-13: 9780226202662 Children in times of the Great Depression Elder studied the life of men who were children during the Great Depression of 1929-1939 and came to maturity at the outset of World War II. When these children came of age Elder found them to be healthy, law abding, well adapted and bright. One stunning finding was that poverty had slight positive effects on children from the middle classes. Once they reached adulthood those men earned a college degree as often as men from nondeprived middle class homes. In later life they did a little better in terms of economic success than their nondeprived middle class peers. Men of working class background did not do as well as men from middle class homes. However Elder found men from deprived working class families to do no worse than men from nondeprived working class families Elder, G. H.(1974)children of the Great Depression: Social Change in Life Experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Children of poor German college students Cohen studied the life trajectories of children of poor german college students. Most of their mothers were single mothers. however those children did not spend theier whole childhood in poverty. When their mothers gratuated from college they were an average of 4;5 years old. By the time those children were teenagers most of their mothers earned more than the German average income. Cohen found the children to be successful in school. They did do as well as children from never deprived middle class families. Once the reached adulthood they were as likely to attend college as children from never deprived middle class families. However, Cohen found those men and women to be emotinally more disturbed then children from never deprived middle class families. Women were more likey to give birth out of wedlock then women from nondeprived middle class families. Both sexes were more likely to have a divorce then people from non deprived middle class familiesCohen, Rachel (2004): Kinder studentischer Eltern. Diplomarbeit, page 31 Spaniards in Germany In the 1970s, Spain was a dictatorship under the rule of Francisco Franco. Many Spaniards fled to Germany in search of a better life. Most of those immigrants were poor and only few were able to speak proper German. Today their children do as well as german children when it comes to educational success and spaniard grown-ups do as well as german grown-ups when it comes to occupational success.Breitenbach. B. von (1982): Italiener und Spanier als Arbeitnehmer in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, München/Mainz. Die Zeit: Gut angekommen. Quick Guide Resilient children Resilient children have a number of traits which make them different from other children.Haan, N. (1977): Coping and defending: Processes of self-environment organization. New York: Academic Press, Goldberg, S. (1977): Social competence in infancy: a model of parent-infant interaction. Merril-Palmer Quarterly, 1977, Murphy, L. & Moriarty, A. (1976): Vulnerability, coping and growth from infancy to to adolescence. New Haven, Conn..: Yale University Press, Nuechterlein, K. H. (1970): Competent disadvantaged children: A review of research. Thesis: University of Minnesota, Garmezy, N. (1974): Children at risk: The search for antecedents of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 8 und 9 Garmezy, N. (1974): The study of competence in children at risk for severe psychopathology. In: E. J. Anthony und C. Koupernik (Hrsg.): The child in his family: Children at psychiatric risk, Vol. III., New York: Wiley, Garmezy, N. & Nuechterlein, K. H. (1972): Invulnerable children: The fact and fiction of competence and disadvantage Among those are: * the ability to delay gratification * interest in humans, things and ideas * interest in school * resilient children tend to be overachievers. That means they do better in school than their IQs would predict * they are "easy to guide" * they have realistic plans for the future * they have a realistic concept of their abilities; however they were shown to have no greater self-esteem than non-resilient children * they asked for help, when they needed it * they were sympathetic towards others * they were able to verbalize their feelings Resilient youth Resilience has two basic sets of skills, inner (intrinsic) and outer (extrinsic). These are somewhat different for children, youth and adults. Young adults include: ---Inner components (intrinsic) or self leadership skills * Empathy * Caring * Equity and social justice * Safety * Restraint and resistance skills - setting boundaries * Planning and decision making - goal setting - problem solving and creativity * Self efficacy * Self esteem * Acceptance * Cultural awareness * Spirituality ---Outer components (extrinsic) or relationship, community and social skills and expectations * Caring family * Family communications * Family support * High expectations parents (not expecting perfection but excellence) * Achievement * Family role models * School engagement * Parental involvement with school * School work * High expectations school * Bonding to school * School boundaries * Achievement * Caring neighbourhood * Neighbourhood boundaries * Community values * Adult relationships * Positive peer relationships * Positive peer influence Both sets contribute to the protective factors that keep people with adversity thriving well and towards a life filled with safe risks. Families of resilient children and youth Families of resilient children and youth have a number of traits, that make them different from families of non-resilient children Haan, N. (1977): Coping and defending: Processes of self-environment organization. New York: Academic Press, Goldberg, S. (1977): Social competence in infancy: a model of parent-infant interaction. Merril-Palmer Quarterly, 1977, Murphy, L. & Moriarty, A. (1976): Vulnerability, coping and growth from infancy to to adolescence. New Haven, Conn..: Yale University Press, Nuechterlein, K. H. (1970): Competent disadvantaged children: A review of research. Thesis: University of Minnesota, Garmezy, N. (1974): Children at risk: The search for antecedents of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 8 and 9 Garmezy, N. (1974): The study of competence in children at risk for severe psychopathology. In: E. J. Anthony und C. Koupernik (Hrsg.): The child in his family: Children at psychiatric risk, Vol. III., New York: Wiley, Garmezy, N. & Nuechterlein, K. H. (1972): Invulnerable children: The fact and fiction of competence and disadvantage: * Parents of resilient children tended to have a better education than parents of non-resilient children * Mothers of resilient children were older when giving birth * Their children were more likely to be wanted children * Resilient children had fewer siblings * Despite their problems, parents of resilient children showed them they cared * They were more likely to take interest in the education of their children * They were more likely to be married * Siblings of resilient children were more likely to be positive role models See also * Adaptability (personality) * Al Siebert * Coping * Ego strength * Emmy Werner * Emotional adjustment * Emotional intelligence * Emotional stability * Health realization * Padesky & Mooney's model of resilience * Positive psychology * Protective factors * Psychological endurance * Psychological stress * Psychological strengths * Resilience and protective factors * Risk * Self-confidence * Self (psychology) * Stress management * Stress innoculation * Susceptibility Notes Further reading Books * Benard, Bonnie (2004) Resiliency: What We Have Learned San Francisco, WestEd. '' * Block, J. H., & Block, J. (1980). The role of ego-control and ego-resiliency in the organization of behavior. In W. A. Collins (Ed.), ''Development of cognition, affect, and social relations: Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology (Vol. 13, pp. 39-101). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum * Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1999). Stress, coping, and self-regulatory processes. In O. P. John & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), '' Handbook of personality: Theory and research'' (pp. 553-575). New York: Guilford Press. * Clark, A. & Clarke, A. (2003) Human Resilience: A 50 year quest. Jessica Kingsley. * Gleser, G. G., Green, B. L., & Winget, C. (1981). Prolonged psychosocial effects of disaster: A study of Buffalo Creek. New York: Academic. * Luthar, S. S. (1999). Poverty and children’s adjustment. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. * Masten, A. S. (1989). Resilience in development: Implications of the study of successful adaptation for developmental psychopathology. In D. Cicchetti (Ed.), The emergence of a discipline: Rochester symposium on developmental psychopathology (Vol. 1, pp. 261-294). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. * Masten, A. S. (1999). Resilience comes of age: Reflections on the past and outlook for the next generation of research. In M. D. Glantz & J. L. Johnson (Eds.), Resilience and development: Positive life adaptations (pp. 281-296). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press. * Reivich, Karen, and Shatte, Andrew (2002) The Resilience Factor: 7 Keys to Finding Your Inner Strength and Overcoming Life's Hurdles. Broadway. * Rutter, M. (2000). Resilience reconsidered: Conceptual considerations, empirical findings, and policy implications. In J. P. Shonkoff & S. J. Meisels (Eds.), Handbook of early childhood intervention (2nd ed., pp. 651-682). New York: Cambridge University Press. * Siebert, Al (2005) '' The Resiliency Advantage: Master Change, Thrive under Pressure, and Bounce Back from Setbacks'' Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. * Werner, E. E. & Smith, R. S. (1982). Vulnerable but invincible: A study of resilient children. New York: McGraw-Hill. Papers * Bonanno, G. A., Galea, S., Bucciareli, A., & Vlahov, D. (2007). What predicts psychological resilience after disaster? The role of demographics, resources, and life stress.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(5), 671-682. * Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. A., Lynch, M., & Holt, K. D. (1993). Resilience in maltreated children: Processes leading to adaptive outcome. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 629-647. * Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1997). The role of self-organization in the promotion of resilience in maltreated children. Development and Psychopathology, 9(4), 799-817. * Davidson, R. J. (2000). Affective style, psychopathology, and resilience: Brain mechanisms and plasticity. American Psychologist, 55, 1196-1214. * Fredrickson, B. L., Tugade, M. M., Waugh, C. E., & Larkin, G.. R. (2003). What good are positive emotions in crises? A prospective study of resilience and emotions following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2002.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 365-376. * Luthar, S. S., Cicchetti, D., & Becker, B. (2000). The construct of resilience: A critical evaluation and guidelines for future work.Child Development, 71(3), 543-562. * Luthar, S. S. & Cicchetti, D. (2000). "The construct of resilience: Implications for interventions and social policies.Development and Psychopathology, 12, 857-885. * Masten, A. S., Best, K. M., & Garmezy, N. (1990). Resilience and development: Contributions from the study of children who overcome adversity. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 425-444. * Ong, A. D., Bergeman, C. S., Bisconti, T. L., & Wallace, K. A. (2006). Psychological resilience, positive emotions, and successful adaptation to stress in later life.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(4), 730-749. * Terr, L. C. (1983). Chowchilla revisited: The effects of psychic trauma four years after a school-bus kidnapping. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 1543-1550. * Tugade, M. M., Fredrickson, B. L., & Barrett, L. F. (2004). Psychological resilience and positive emotional granularity: Examining the benefits of positive emotions on coping and health.Journal of Personality, 72(6), 1161-1190. * Werner, E. E. (1995). Resilience in development.Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 81-85. External links * What is psychological resilience? - Wilderdom * Classroom simulation based on Cairns and Cairns's landmark longitudinal study of adolescents (with notes for running the simulation) * WestEd CHKS Resilience & Youth Development - Resilience Section of WestEd's California Healthy Kids Survey Website * National Resilience Resource Center, University of Minnesota * 40 developmental assets - Search Institute * Resiliency information * Read about the book "children of the land" Category:Motivation Category:Personality traits Category:Psychological theories Category:Positive psychology Category:Resilience